Are you Tariffied?

Mark Noonan10 Comments

I brought this up on X yesterday but I want to do to a bit more on explaining my tariff views – and, indeed, my overall economic views. So, here goes:

You’ve seen this picture of some variation of it, probably many times: the driving of the last spike in the Transcontinental Railroad. This was a major development in the growth of the United States – tying together the East and West and ensuring rapid settlement of the Great Plains. But what most people don’t know is that the rails used to build that railroad and the tires (wheels) on the trains in this picture were probably made in Germany, by Krupp. Here’s the logo of that company:

De drie ringen – the three rings. After the World Wars a lot of foreigners thought the three rings stood for Krupp cannon as Krupp was the premier gun maker for both the German Empire and Nazi Germany…but the truth is much more prosaic. Alfred Krupp was the first major German steel manufacturer and his firm struggled mightily early on. He did, indeed, realize his steel would be excellent for cannons and rifles but the military establishment of Prussia (his homeland) and the rest of Europe was skeptical of the newfangled thing, preferring to retain their cast-iron muskets and bronze cannon as tried and true (it was only after the astonishing performance of Krupp cannon in the 1870 Franco-Prussian war that everyone was sold on steel guns). What allowed Krupp to take off was two things: the exceptional quality of their steel and their invention of a new method of making steel railroad tires which produced a product superior to everyone else. The Krupp firm made so much money off the tires that Alfred Krupp decided to make three railroad tires his company logo – de drie ringen. Krupp’s rails and tires were so good that we Americans bought them in huge quantities. Krupp-steel was used to crisscross our continent with railroads.

But during all this time, we lived under a Protectionist trade policy. Sure, everyone loved the quality of Krupp products but they were expensive, as such, and then you had to pay the tariff to import them to the USA. Modern Free Trade nimrods would say we should have lowered the barriers to allow more Krupp steel in…but what happened was that the high tariffs induced American manufacturers to get into the game…by the 1890’s American-made railroad tires and tracks were only slightly less good than Krupp’s and being made at home and not subject to tariffs, were a lot cheaper. Boom: American railroads started buying American products. Here’s the key thing to remember: had we not had Protection, the American industries created to make railroad tracks and tires would have not come into existence. German labor costs were lower than American. The German product was better than we could produce out the gate. No tariffs would mean the German product would not only be better than we could ever make, but cheaper.

Now, think about this: had we not developed domestic railroad suppliers, what would have happened to us during the two World Wars when German imports were no longer available? We would have been in one heck of a bad situation…at a time when American rolling stock would be massively used, we would lack the domestic means to maintain and expand our rail system. Absolute catastrophe. Thanks to tariffs, we didn’t need German products. The loss of Germany as a trade partner meant absolutely nothing to us.

The economy, my friends, is not something to make your stock portfolio grow. It is what we do for a living – how we get our daily bread. Just think of all the things you use every week – by and large, everything you use should be made domestically if at all possible. We’re not talking luxury goods like an excellent French wine or some delicate silk fabric from the storied East…we’re talking about the bread and butter in your pantry, the pipes that bring water to your home and carry away waste, the gasoline in your car, the power lines that carry electricity to your house, the shoes on your feet, the shirt on your back. These are the things we need to do for ourselves…because in a crisis, nobody is going to do it for us. Point blank: the more dependent we are upon foreign suppliers for our basic necessities the more advantage foreign enemies have over us. And here’s another thing to consider – the US dollar is the global currency and nobody is going to want to dispense with it mostly because nobody trusts any other nation to hold assets…this has worked out well for us because we can print as many dollars as we like and buy cheap foreign goods with them…but in a real crisis, your wealth isn’t your money: it is what you can make, mine and grow.

Money was invented so that I don’t have to exchange a sack of potatoes for a bushel of wheat. It is a convenience – something standing in the place of me exchanging goods for goods because much easier to hand money to someone instead of the tedious transactions of a barter economy. But behind that money, you’d better have something someone wants. We used to back our money with gold, silver and copper…now we back it with “full faith and credit” which is meaningless support for a myth. If foreigners ever perceive that having US dollars isn’t the way to go – like, say, if we’re at war with China and not doing well – then they’re going to essentially demand goods for goods. Perhaps still denominated in dollars, but there better be something behind that slip of paper. And if we don’t make, mine and grow things? What then backs up our currency?

To have wealth, we must make – and to be safe, we must supply as much of our needs domestically as we can. This isn’t to say that trade isn’t beneficial. It is, in fact, one of the most beneficial of human actions. It is trading nations who always do best. If you ever wonder why Africa – where humans originated – never developed a high sub-Saharan civilization then look no further than Africa’s geography: outside the Nile, none of Africa’s major rivers are navigable year-round at distance. The African coast has hardly any natural harbors. Basically, deserts and oceans isolated sub-Saharan Africa from the main cross-currents of human development and so when Europeans first went into central and southern Africa starting in the 16th century, they found people who simply could not withstand superior European technology and organization. Had Africa been able to trade as readily as Europe, it probably would have developed similar to Europe. Lack of trade is a society-killer.

But Free Trade between nations is a myth – it has never happened and never can happen. If you brought together the two most honest nations and negotiated the most fair and square free trade deal, you still wouldn’t have free trade because each nation is working under a different tax and regulatory system. Each nation will also almost certainly have developmental differences which means they might be better at this, worse at that and so on back and forth between them. So even with the most honest approach, you still won’t have free trade – the internal differences between the trade partners will work out that one of them gains an advantage over the other. And here’s the spoiler: outside suckers like the USA (and Britain in the 19th century when they became the first nation to try Free Trade), nobody is honest. Everyone is lying, cheating and stealing to the largest extent possible. Bribes, subsidies, secret tariffs and bizarre regulatory mazes are designed to wring every last advantage for their side. Back in the 1980’s when we were all upset about Japanese car imports hardly anyone noticed that the reason the Japanese were able to dump their products in the USA was because their market was protected…not officially but through a maze of regulations and social constructs which essentially kept American automobiles out of Japan (in spite of Japanese loving every last bit of American pop culture and thus being primed to buy a Chevy). On and on it goes like that – Trump is right: they have been ripping us off.

But, as noted, even if they weren’t stealing, free trade is still a blind. Because even if a foreigner can make something for us better, faster and cheaper that isn’t the only consideration. Our people need to work. Our people need to have dignified jobs and lives. Our nation needs to be safe in a crisis. We need to be able to do things.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was partially collapsed in March of 2024 – officials now say they hope to have a replacement bridge up by the end of 2028. More than four years later! And if you really think a bunch of Democrats in Baltimore will meet that time line then I’ve got a collapsed bridge to sell you. It took less time to build the entire Golden Gate which is a bigger bridge. We’re currently constructing the USS Enterprise (CVN-80) which is a replacement for USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and the newer ship is going to take twice as long to build as the older even though there is no significant difference in tonnage or layout. We see things everywhere taking longer and longer and costing more and more – and, sure, taxes and regulations are playing their huge role here but it is also that we simply don’t make as much stuff as we used to so we’re dependent upon unreliable foreign suppliers and we’re increasingly using cheap, illegal labor which is totally unskilled (some of the new home construction done by illegals is atrociously bad). Suppose we got into a big war and needed to build lots of things very fast – as we had to in World War Two? Right now, we simply can’t do it – we lack the physical plant and the domestic skills.

In order to maintain the irreducible minimum of required capacity, we’re going to have to Protect certain industries and trades from foreign competition, even if that competition is superior (usually it isn’t, though; just compare your garbage Chinese-made drill with that American-made one that you’ve had in your garage for 40 years). In food, we must not import any of soybeans, corn, wheat, beef, pork, poultry and dairy products. In industry we must make all our own steel and aluminum, all our own lumber, all our own trucks, trains, planes, all our own power lines and associated equipment…we must as far as possible drill, baby drill for oil and natural gas and build sufficient nuke plants to ensure a glut of electrical production capacity. And we must do this even if it ends up more expensive – but it won’t because here is the dirty, little secret the Free Traders don’t want to tell you…prices in the USA fell continuously from the end of the War of 1812 until the creation of the Fed in 1913. The reason we need to import cheap consumer goods is because the deliberate use of inflation to sustain the banking system has priced us out of our own economy. If we go to sound money (I’d prefer the Gold Standard, but lets go baby-steps here) and try to eliminate inflation (rather than keep to the Fed’s ruinous and insane policy of ensuring at least 2% annual inflation) then we will see prices drop year over year as increased capacity and productivity drive down prices at the consumer level. We can start getting actually rich again.

And as we produce again, we can really trade again – it isn’t trade if I send a billion dollars I printed up for Chinese goods. That is just robbery. Trade is when I send China a billion dollars worth of goods and I buy a billion dollars worth of Chinese goods. Trade reciprocity…actual trade. I get this, you get that. Not I get your substandard consumer good and you get my money which you use to buy bonds and political influence over my Ruling Class. The exchange of goods and services is trade…not slips of paper. And it would be honest trade – and if China won’t buy from us because they demand I allow myself to be ripped off, then they are simply barred from my market…which they can’t survive, so they’ll actually have to be honest about it. Sucks to be them. I don’t care.

And here’s something to consider – once you think about it, this all makes sense. Certainly makes more sense than blaming tariffs for the Great Depression when you’re completely ignoring the massive financial, social and material dislocations in the period 1914 forward by war, disease and revolutionary overthrow of long-established nations and relationships. Tariffs certainly didn’t cause the Depression – if they played a role in extending it then this was secondary to all the massive government spending which misallocated resources from economic need to political favor. We’ve been living in an economic dream world since FDR…and in a Free Trade nightmare since Bretton Woods in 1944. Our economy is hollowed out, our technical abilities are atrophied, our people have fallen into welfare dependency and drug addiction…while a certain class is happy to sit back and watch as long as their stocks go up 7% per year. Enough of this. Back to the real world. As Trump said, the operation has been a success…the patient is on the mend. It is going to hurt – but healing from terrible illness and injury always does…but we’re restoring ourselves to health.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan6 Comments

Democrats are lauding themselves because Cory Booker talked for 24 hours in the Senate and they held on to a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat. I guess they need to feel they can win.

Booker talked, I guess, about how bad it is we’re deporting people. Not quite sure where the Democrats want to go with this nationally but Booker and others are prepping for 2028 and know they need Far Left Extremist votes in the early primary States. The Left Extremists are pleased as punch with Booker over this. So, too, are they happy with those still putting trans stuff front and center. On the other hand, deporting people is an 80/20 issue for the GOP. The guy they’re highlighting at the moment – the “Maryland father” – is probably just the least-threatening person in the batches deported. But, he’s MS-13…and even if he wasn’t, he’s an illegal and now a foreigner in a foreign land so no further concern of ours…and Democrat calls to bring him back simply do not comprehend the basic American desire here – if you’re illegal, out you go.

Now, let’s not get all wine and roses here – the reason we lost in Wisconsin last night is because GOP-leaning Independents stayed home. They came out in droves for Trump…but they are so-far not coming out for the GOP. And this, IMO, is because the GOP is so-far not giving them any reason to turn out. The people who put Trump into the White House want deep, radical change…the Congressional GOP is still only taking baby-steps towards change…likely hoping they can just do the bare minimum and wait until the Trump years are over and then go back to being the losers in the Democrats political script. Ain’t gonna happen.

Trump and his team aren’t going to let it happen – while we lost last night, this was the first time the national GOP did any heavy lifting in one of these off-year State elections. It wasn’t soon enough (Democrats were blowing through Soros money on it long before it even showed on our radar), but it did happen. It was a learning experience for us. Huge strides were taken even in defeat – the GOP candidate getting more votes for a WI Supreme Court seat than any GOPer in the past (and voter ID is now enshrined in Wisconsin’s Constitution – which means we might see fewer deep Blue districts having 99% turnout with 99% for the Democrat, as we did last night; of course they stuffed ballot boxes…Democrats always do, as much as they can; but in this case, we probably would have lost even a totally honest election). Very much under the radar what is also happening is GOP voter registrations gains…at this pace, some time in early 2026 Pennsylvania will flip red…and in New Jersey the GOP gains continue to mount (and NJ is actually our best prospect this November…the Dems still have an advantage but said advantage is in low-propensity Democrat voters…a good candidate and campaign and the GOP could pull this one off). What I’m saying is that we’re still winning- and Team Trump knows the stakes: if we lose the House in 2026, the Democrats will immediately impeach. It doesn’t matter why – they’ll do it (and, of course, won’t allow a single legislative victory to us). The House for 2026 is still very much up in the air…it could go either way. Trump is going to fight for it.

Bondi is seeking 20 year sentences for people who burn Teslas…and, hey presto, Tesla burnings stop. The reason the Left always resorts to violence is because since Kent State, we’ve let the Left get away with violence. The tin soldiers and Nixon were the last time someone shot a Lefty for being a typically violent Leftist. But it isn’t right that we allow it to happen – and Team Trump is not going to allow it to happen. This is very important – the twin pillars of the Left are government subsidy and violence. Trump is attacking both…they will soon lack the money to pay for violence and even if someone writes a check for a fiery but peaceful protest, nobody will show up at the stack of pre-positioned bricks because they won’t want to do 20 years over it.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan14 Comments

It is said – by known liars – that one of the people deported to the El Salvadoran prison was a Venezuelan man who had nothing to do with the gangs. He’s just this homosexual hair dresser never harmed a fly and was in the USA legally attempting to obtain asylum status because he’s gay and participated in an anti-Maduro protest. We’re supposed to feel angry that Trump deported this guy and demand that he be returned to the USA. To which I answer: no.

Suppose the liars in this instance aren’t lying – that he really is just a gay hairdresser with no gang affiliations and opposition to his government: so? He’s still a foreigner. He still has no right to be in the USA. And if he was fleeing for his life from Venezuelan government oppression of homosexuals and anti-Maduro activists, then Columbia is right next door. So, too, Brazil, Guyana and Trinidad. He didn’t need to come thousands of miles to save himself from anti-gay violence.

Asylum is for true emergencies – we have to get you out of your home country or you will be killed…because of your skin color or religion or orientation of what have you. Not because you’ll be poor. Not because it is a bit oppressive down there: because if you don’t flee, you die. This all stems from the St Louis in 1939 – a passenger liner from Germany filled with Jewish refugees which was refused entry in port after port, including American ports. The Jews eventually had to return to German control where a very large number of them ended up dead in the Holocaust. This is what we, as decent human beings, never want to happen again. That is what asylum is for. It isn’t because your homeland is poor and your government is corrupt and tyrannical. And asylum is to be obtained in the next country over – remember, it is lives that are at stake. Once you get to a place where they won’t kill you, then you’re safe…and, sure, from there you can go to the closest US consulate and apply for an immigrant visa to the USA but that’s it. You’re now regular process – you won’t die if you wait in line.

America isn’t the dumping ground for the world’s problems. Poverty is not a justification for refugee status. Neither is political oppression. Stay home and build your own economy. Conduct a revolution to overthrow your oppressive government. People do bear responsibility, even under tyranny. Part of what angers me about foreign aid is the endless nature of it…”the poor people of Africa/Asia/South America need our help to build up their lives”…this is something that made sense in 1960…its 2025. Sixty five years have passed. Singapore went from filthy-poor backwater of the dying British Empire to one of the richest countries in the world in less than half that time. With hardly any land and no natural resources. They just got to work – and now they’re reaping the rewards of their hard work. Why isn’t Ghana or Myanmar? Singapore has a per capita GDP of 89 grand – Ghana is less than 200 bucks a month. Sure, oppressive and corrupt governments…so, why haven’t their own people killed the corrupt tyrants and tried something else? Enough of this. Fix your own country. Only come knocking here if you’ll die otherwise (if the man in question has been a gay Iranian I’d never send him back, eg – he’d be killed if I did).

Trump has fired a shot across the bow of the weak kneed – essentially telling the world in this post that he won’t back down and it is those who keep fighting who will reap the glory. There will be no retreat and no surrender. Anyone looking for Trump to moderate his stance or give his opposition anything will be disappointed. It is full speed ahead.

And how it is going? Well, we’ve got some MSM polls (ROFL – but bear with me) saying that Trump’s support is declining…plus report after report claiming that Trumpsters are regretting their votes…”we didn’t vote for this” goes the claim…well, whatever. The reality: GOP voter registration gains continue. They didn’t stop after the election…Pennsylvania is now less than 100,000 active voters from flipping Red. The Democrats had like an 800,000 voter advantage there 10 years ago. New Jersey voter registration is trending Red (fast). Even California has shown more GOP registrations and Democrat – by a lot (we’re so far behind there, though, that it won’t matter for years). That is what is happening – people saw Biden and registered to vote GOP to get Trump back in…now that they’re seeing Trump, they’re registering GOP to keep Trump policies going. The political realignment to the Right spoken of since Reagan’s 1980 win is happening for real.

Oh, and Democrats – with the expected Electoral College adjustments following the 2030 census, a GOP Presidential candidate will be able to get past 270 even if losing WI/MI/PA. So, if we get Vance or DeSantis in for 2028…you’re super screwed for a long time. Enjoy!

Nuke the Judges: Restore the Constitution

Mark Noonan93 Comments

It has been noted that we have 677 Federal District Court judges and if just one of them objects to a Trump action, it is stopped…and we are instructed that only the nine Justices of the Supreme Court can really do anything about it…when and if they decide to get around to it. This is not, however, how our Constitutional system works. Or at least is supposed to work. Another person has pointed out that the Covid response kinda showed the entire Constitutional system is gone – if they could lock us down for a bad cold, then what rights do we really have? This is a strong point – but I’m still going to stick with the Constitution.

We simply have to make it work – because the alternative is a Caesar and I don’t want that. I’d bequeath the next generation liberty, if I can. If pressed to it I will bequeath them mere sanity…but I’ll try for liberty. And that means we have to make this system work – make the Constitution do its job.

The more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that Trump must have a showdown with the judges. A direct defiance of a court ruling – written down as an Executive Order. No mistake about it – the ruling will not be enforced, all those charged with ignoring the ruling are granted a preemptive pardon. Basically telling the courts to jump in a lake – and challenging Congress to impeach and remove because that would be the only thing anyone could do about it. But it has to be done with care – and Team Trump is already setting the table for it…because the Constitutional crisis isn’t in a Trump defiance, but in the courts issuing rulings. It is the judges who are busting the deal, not Trump.

Some on the Right are still not getting this – and Chris Withans (@chriswithans on X and a definite must-follow; he’s a kid compared to us so you will get polls on which weird 2010 band is best, but he’s sharp as a tack on politics) gives the reason:

Literally the only reason why they think Trump is pushing the limits of the law too much is that the legal right has never fought as much as the legal left has, so we don’t see how fast-and-loose Obama and Biden play with the law and the Constitution.

I remember so many legal conservatives saying there was no point in challenging Biden’s student loan actions because of standing and the vagueness of the laws in question (which surprise surprise is meant to give discretion to the executive branch), but fortunately Missouri did so we ended up with a couple of key decisions to block it.

And then Biden of course violated the orders but because the legal right already undermined the case by saying we had no standing, they put themselves in a disadvantageous position to complain about Biden’s post-SCOTUS executive actions.

Nutshell: we’ve never really fought this out. Think about the 2000 election court cases – W naturally fought tooth and nail over Florida because that was the decisive electoral college State. Those EC votes decided who was going to be President. And Florida was as close as it was likely due to voter fraud…but so, too, were Iowa, New Mexico and Wisconsin. It is very likely, in my view, that a full audit of all 4 very close 2000 States would indicate W won all of them…and likely won the popular vote once you backed out the fraudulent votes. The 2000 election was the perfect time to fight out the overall issue of Democrats stuffing ballot boxes, which is something they’ve always done and GOP insiders always knew was done. There was zero chance we were going to lose Florida once the first recount was done as long as the W people kept an eye out for Democrat skullduggery (in this case, trying to post-facto manufacture just enough votes to get Gore over the top). But had it been fought out in all 4 close States, it would have exposed the Democrats then and there because such a fight would show that Gore did not come remotely close in Florida, either…that some late night ballot box stuffing was the source of the disputed election result…and this fight would have created a massive backlash against Democrat cheating and lead to a much more secure and honest election system. Nope. Nothing doing. W and his people accepted the stuffed ballots in Florida and held on to merely saying (in effect) that the Democrats didn’t cheat enough. The W team just wanted to get the power…not actually do something with it. That was the point of the Florida 2000 exercise…and that is the way the GOP has always fought legal battles: on the narrowest possible grounds.

We can’t be narrow – it has to be point blank we’re right, they’re wrong and our way will prevail. A district court judge does not have the power to issue a nationwide injunction and the Article II powers of the Presidency may not be taken away by any law or court ruling. The President may hire and fire at will and does not have to expend appropriated money. We have to make the battle the People vs the Judges. It is a fight we must have, it is a fight we can win – and by winning restore the actual Constitutional order. The judiciary is not a referee nor a last resort for the losers of the last election. Political matters are to be settled by politics. Period.

Opening Day Open Thread

Mark Noonan31 Comments

That time of year again – when hope is strong…

As a Padres fan, I know that pain is coming my way. Ah, well! Its Opening Day…for now, its all good.

With all the woke garbage, baseball is still American. Of course, some bits of legend are fading – I was at a minor league game with the grandsons last Spring and after a guy whiffed I commented “Mighty Casey has struck out” and got blank stares from the boys. I was shocked: they had never read Casey at the Bat…but, then again, I don’t think the kids are reading much of anything these days. Anyways, they’ve heard of it now…and they both like to play a bit of Little League ball. It goes on.

One thing that is still amazing me is how so many on the Right still go along with the Left Narrative. The Signal thing is just that – another Left Narrative. We know the Left doesn’t even give a darn about national security. Heck, they hate the USA with a white-hot passion. But they got their little report (provided to us by a known and quite notorious liar who has routinely lied about Trump since the get-go) and they’re running with it…and the Usual Suspect Right voices are “well, this is bad, we should do something, there should be investigations and resignations!”. Which, of course, is the point of the exercise.

Back in 2017 the resignation of Michael Flynn and the start of the “Trump-Russia” special counsel investigation was really the beginning of the end for that Trump term. Very much good was still accomplished but so much time was lost and as people were forced to resign, they were invariably replaced by Establishment hacks who undermined Trump at every turn. I get us falling for it a bit in 2017 but in 2025? Come on – only a moron would go along with this.

And there they go – going along with it. So, morons.

The good news is that Trump is not allowing himself to be stampeded here – he’s holding firm and so are his people, and if you think the AG is going to recuse herself and appoint a special counsel, you’re nuts.

Meanwhile, the lawfare against Trump continues – with the judicial rulings getting ever more absurd…which, in the end, will play right into Trump’s hands. Keep in mind that Trump does not want to defy these rulings. As I’ve said for a while, Trump is the most law-abiding President we’ve had in ages. He wants to work within the system…but the system does include his ability to deport any foreigner he wants (no reason required) and to hire and fire at will in the Executive Branch (Executive power is vested in the President per Article II…this power is 100% Trump’s, not the judges – it can’t be taken away in any form save by Constitutional amendment). Our hope – and likely, Trump’s – is that the Supreme Court calls the District courts off…tells them to stop doing this. If they don’t…then on the matter of deporting criminal illegal aliens, Trump will openly defy and the American people will back him on it.

Don’t want it to be this way – I want us to retain judicial review (which is not, by the way, written into the Constitution…it isn’t even really implied in the document; the independent Judiciary was created so that the Executive wouldn’t have the power to jail people…it wasn’t set up to play referee on political matters) but we can’t let judges decide the course of the country. That is for the people via their elected leadership to decide. The Courts should only intervene if there is a really egregious violation of the obvious requirements of the Constitution. No penumbras here, guys. And if the Courts don’t curb themselves, then they’re going to find that they have no mechanism to enforce their rulings. The Judiciary has no army or police…and even if they want to hold in contempt and issue fines, the President can just pardon his people. I hope that Roberts can see the writing on the wall and reverse course.

A Brutally American Open Thread

Mark Noonan60 Comments

The Left is floating a new line of attack against Trump and his supporters: we’re now the Brutal Americans. We’re just so mean. So cruel. We don’t understand the subtle relationships of the world.

You know: that’s where we pretend that credentialed morons know what they’re talking about and that cowards who are letting Islamists assault their women are the brave guys.

Our failure to hold up our end here has “shattered” European illusions about the USA. Well, I guess we’re supposed to feel bad about that. Of course, once upon a time, Brutal Americans were more appreciated…like back when Easy Company was drinking Goering’s booze on Hitler’s patio:

Those were some pretty Brutal guys, I guess. But, times change.

I know that some of MAGA – including Trump – are urging Europe to live up to their NATO commitments but I’m more and more wondering what we’re even defending over there? Turkey has slid into anti-Israel Islamism, in Germany you can get arrested for being upset about Islamist violence and in Britain I understand you need an ID to buy a knife. I’m supposed to send some 18 year old kid from Kansas to die for that?

The most recent European entry into my bloodline arrived in the USA in 1849 – that is 176 years ago. I ain’t European. I’m American. I’m Native. I know that some people will get upset at that but I figure after a while the Settler is Settled. My rule of thumb is that if you own a couple great-great-grandparents born in the land, then you are Native to it. I own a lot of them. My earliest American ancestor got here some time before 1640. We’re just a stone’s throw from 400 years in the area. I have no connection to any other land than America. What I’m saying is that if I’m to care about Europe they have to give me a reason to care…just because I look like some of the people in Cork, Ireland doesn’t mean I give a darn about them. Don’t know them. Never met them. Have no intention of ever going there. So, tell me why I’m suppose to care what happens to them?

Oh, sure, in the general, Christian sense I do care…if they suddenly were struck by catastrophe I’d be willing to help them out of the jam…but if someone decides their idiotic population which keeps electing people who hate Ireland should now be governed by a Russian proconsul, I don’t see how this matters to me. Might suck for them but it won’t suck any worse than what they have now. Anyways, the way the Irish are going they will soon impose upon themselves Sharia law. And, hey, if that’s what they want – and they seem to want it – then who am I to complain? People get to choose their own path. But what would I be sending American soldiers to defend over there? Nothing that is of our interest, as far as I can see.

It is said that RFK Jr has plans to ban pharmaceutical advertisements on TV. We older folks remember a time when you never saw such ads…but there were court cases in which it was argued that a ban on such ads was a violation of the First Amendment…but I also understand that even in these rulings there is wiggle room to restrict “direct to consumer” ads of such things as drugs. We’ll see how this plays out – but as I have said again and again, the Constitution isn’t a suicide pact. I am dead certain that people are taking way more medicine than they have to for a host of maladies because the TV told them to. A prescription medication should only be taken fairly rarely. I’m 60 and I take none of them – and I do suffer from chronic pain and, like all human beings, I’m sometimes sad or anxious. I don’t go the medicine route for two reasons:

  1. I have my doubts that these drugs – especially the newer ones – are the result of a first-rate scientific method development.
  2. Human bodies learn to tolerate what they ingest. Not 1 for 1 but it happens…and we see it happening with the overuse of antibiotics…we’re developing Attila the Germ because we’re taking antibiotics when just a clean bandage would do the trick. If you take a med for something on the regular, your body is going to try to make that med ineffective because it isn’t what your body is naturally producing. The more you take it, the more your body will get used to it. Take medicines rarely (yes, I understand for some people a chronic condition requires daily, weekly, monthly dosing or they die…but some people are popping pills for things they don’t really need pills for).

My view on the ads is that the weak-minded person who believes the TV sees the ad and goes “you know, I have that ache, too!” and they’re off to the doctors who may not be totally on the level in their prescriptions. Especially if the customer calls the company for advice and they refer the customer to a doctor who might really be no more than a pusher of the drug. Take the ads off the air. It will get us back towards more of a system of a person feeling really bad, going to the doctor and then getting prescribed something the person never heard of before.

The new Snow White has flopped. It isn’t because Snow White isn’t White – it is because it is hot garbage. The apparent re-telling of the tale bears little relation to the original story. To review; Snow White is born of a Queen’s wish to have the most beautiful daughter. This comes true but the Queen dies. Later, Snow White’s father marries the Evil Queen who becomes obsessed with jealousy over Snow White’s beauty. She tries one strategy after another to kill Snow White and fails in all of them…but the last one seems to work and so Snow White is buried in a glass casket, which is discovered by a Prince out in the woods for a hunt. He rescues Snow White and they get married – the Evil Queen discovers that Snow White is alive and tries again to kill her, but is thwarted and executed. Just a fine fairy tale with the obvious moral that jealousy and pride are sins and you’ll get punished eventually for them. Meanwhile, if you are brave and good you’ll live happily ever after. Disney appears to have loused this up – I understand there really isn’t even a Prince character in this. Which kinda kills the whole story because it is the fortunate arrival of the Prince that changes defeat into victory for Snow White (always in fairy tales the actual victory must be of a miraculous nature…the destruction of the Ring in the Lord of the Rings only happens because Gollum trips and falls into Mount Doom’s flames). And in addition to butchering the actual story, the reviews indicate that it is badly written, badly acted and visually atrocious.

I don’t know how long Disney and the rest of Hollywood can go on losing money like this – I haven’t been to a theater in ages and it is hard to find a major studio production over the last 20 years that is even watchable. I do find some foreign and Indy stuff that is good – that is, actually has a story with some good writing and some interesting cinematography but even that is getting rarer. It is like everyone has been forbidden to tell tales and must, instead, either produce insipid drivel offending nobody or go on a Woke Fest which makes the story ridiculous (I’ve been watching the Walking Dead series – still sticking with it even though it went pretty woke after a while because the Daryl and Negan characters are intriguing and very well acted…they have various spinoffs going right now and in one of them a 5’7″ female character goes toe to toe in a fight with a 6’4″ males character…sure, they did have her ultimately lose the fight but the reality is there wouldn’t have been a fight…but Super Chick must always show up these days; it isn’t the worst thing, but it is irritating). There are stories to tell. Heck, I know this guy who has 9 books in a series which would make an awesome Netflix adaptation. But Hollywood can’t tell them…until they go broke, I guess.

The Liberal Retreat

Mark Noonan20 Comments

Pity the poor Liberal, my friends: they are in a bad place right now. Let’s take a quick look over there – we have two types of Liberals:

  1. Absolute lunatics. These are the people who are out there setting Tesla’s on fire and trying to tackle Trumpsters on the train (did you see that video? Hilarious when the Liberal face-plants).
  2. The intellectual Liberal who sounds oh, so reasonable and just wants peace, love and freedom.

The trouble for both types is that Liberalism cannot exist in anything like a free society. This paradox stems from the underlying error of Liberalism which is the assertion that human Reason, uncorrected by Authority, is sufficient. Back there in the 18th century when the so-called “Enlightenment” was creating the first Liberals the phrasing went along the lines of “I will follow Reason wherever it leads”. This sounds like a good idea and maybe it even was a good idea to some extent…but while the assertion was made by people who asserted they would always come to the correct thing via Reason, the facts of history show us that Robespierre, Lenin and Hitler were able to follow their Reason to some rather surprising results.

I bring this up because one of the second types – goes by the handle Carl @HistoryBoomer – has a post on X who is trying to explain to us benighted MAGA/Conservative types why Liberals are fleeing to Bluesky – he says, in part:

“Leftists are leaving Twitter because they can’t take criticism.”

Imagine you have a favorite diner, but the new owner is a Trump fan. Trump posters, Trump statues, Trump menu items.

Eventually you tire of waiters saying “Hail Trump” and leave.

Many of you underrate the effect of Elon being 100% behind Trump and daily spewing pro-Trump propaganda (often pure lies). This isn’t just a pro-Trump guy buying a diner. This is a guy who spends 20 hours a day tweeting his love of Trump and his hatred of “corrupt” Democrats.

He’s then got this chart showing that Musk’s account is popular, as are other Trump and pro-Trump accounts. So, you see, its just too much Trump all the time! It isn’t healthy. And, darn it, he’s going to have to leave if it doesn’t stop…presumably to retreat to Bluesky.

Have you been to Bluesky? I opened an account when it became a thing right after the election and I maintain it – because by checking it once very few days I can quickly discern the talking points of the Liberals. It is all there is over there – nothing but the most mindless Liberal propaganda. And it is just like Twitter was prior to Musk purchasing it. No real dissent…just endless repetition of the talking points. It is depressing. Mind-numbing. But it is the only place Liberalism can exist.

For the most part, Liberals don’t even engage in debate. We see it here when our resident Liberals show up from time to time – they just want to come here and put out the talking points and get furious when we don’t respond to their talking points in a way which allows them to just keep repeating the talking points. Forcing them to think and defend their position is something most Liberals hate. But even those who want to take a stab at an intellectual argument always fall back on departure if they can’t censor, and censorship if they’ve got the power. This is because they can’t defend their positions.

Don’t get me wrong, they think they can. They think they’re both smart and well-informed. Very sure of themselves. And so, for instance, a Liberal who is in love with the idea of high speed rail might come around to point out how awesome high speed rail is and how Europe and China are pressing ahead with this wonderful, Green tech which makes travel fantastic because they once took the bullet train from Paris to Brussels and we’d better get moving on this or we’ll be left behind by the world!

To which we respond: a high speed train from Los Angeles to New York would take nineteen and a half hours…if it was non-stop and there were no problems. And has anyone ever built a high speed rail crossing something like the Rocky Mountains?

Whammo – argument is over. The Liberal will not address the practical difficulty of building a high speed rail and that ends it…the Liberal might keep repeating the talking points for a while but is totally incapable of actually defending the position…because it is indefensible. Because there is no need for a nationwide high speed rail system in the USA. We like our cars. We like flying. You might be able to successfully build high speed rail for a few well-traveled corridors (Los Angeles to San Diego, DC to NYC, eg) but there’s just never gonna be a guy who wants to get on a train in LA and arrive nearly a full day later in NYC – he can be there is six hours by plane.

And it does go back to Liberalism’s initial error: that Reason alone is sufficient. Never has been, never will be. There must be an Authority which is outside of our control – something which tells us that certain things are always right, certain other things are always wrong and we are to simply conform ourselves to this. The seeming oddity of this is that it is liberating – once you know the rules, then you can do all sorts of fun and interesting things….like have a really cool give-and-take-argument over an issue where at the end of the day the best idea emerges victorious and everyone with any sense bows before it. My example about high speed rail was just to take a rather low-key issue…but it is like that on every issue.

Abortion is good. People are born in the wrong body. Migrants always improve the community. Muslims are never the bad guys. Black people can never be racists. Women are paid less than men. Funding a program means you get your desired result. Lack of funding means you will never get your desired result. Roads are Socialism. All of us have seen this – these assertions and many others, all made with vigor and not one of them defensible on the merits. The least push back on them and the Liberal has to censor you or retreat if censorship isn’t possible.

And that is why they hate Musk – sure, the DOGE stuff is a huge thing and supporting the Bad Orange Man is an outrage…but the very worst thing Musk did was allow criticism of Liberalism on X. It is intolerable…because Liberalism is indefensible. Trust me, if they could win an argument with us, they’d be having arguments with us day in and day out. They can’t so they don’t. Vast contrast to us on the Right who are arguing amongst ourselves all the time and we really do have diversity…we don’t agree on everything. We’d be bored to tears if we all did.

So, the Liberals are retreating – to their intellectual ghettos like Bluesky and MSNBC. This is good – we’ve got them on the run. Any of them worth anything will stay and eventually abandon Liberalism. Not necessarily all Liberal views – because some sorts of Liberal views are defensible (even if most of us on the Right still think them mistaken). But anyone of intellect and honesty is going to leave the Left…it is a dead and boring thing. A new dawn comes…the mind is being freed from Liberal bigotry.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan21 Comments

To get back at it, Home World was released on March 15th! It is Book IX and the penultimate book of the series (with the possibility of some one-off books in the future). Book X (currently untitled) will come out later this year to wrap it up. As the title suggests, our heroes are back here! As the jacket blurb notes, just a quick trip back home to wrap up all affairs…but things go wrong.

Its a fun one, guys! You’ll especially enjoy the time frame it happens and some side comments about America and the world. I thoroughly enjoyed putting part of the action in Arizona; with a character met there being based on an X friend who’s a rancher and author out in that State, though as with all characters, also a mash up of two or more people.

The JFK docs were released – no, we’re not going to find the plan by the CIA to kill him. That was never going to be in there. But this doesn’t mean we’re not finding things. Steve Portnoy did some reading:

So, the CIA noted that Oswald met with Cubans and Russians two months before Dallas. And then failed to note this little fact to the Secret Service/FBI when they knew Oswald was in Dallas when Kennedy was scheduled to be there. This is very much shades of Butler, PA. Had the CIA advised the Secret Service that a Dallas resident (and had been since June of 1962) has serious Commie connections, then it would have been natural for the Secret Service (and/or FBI) to keep tabs on him during JFK’s visit. Like maybe figuring out that he worked at a place which had a field of fire into the path the President would be taking through Dallas. And then for 60 years the CIA demanded that this be kept secret.

Pro tip: if you don’t want people to believe conspiracy theories, the first rule is to not lie by omission.

Do keep in mind that you don’t have to do something to cause an event…you can often cause the event by not doing things. You know, like not having an officer on the roof with a clear line of sight to the Presidential podium.

Malicious or incompetent? That is the unknown thing – and likely can’t be known at this point as nearly everyone involved in dead; and likely didn’t write it down…or destroyed ages ago the documents which would give us an answer. And the jokester gives us the best word on it:

I do apologize for the vulgar language…but its appropriate here. The fundamental problem here, as I’ve been noting for a while, is government secrecy. That somehow the government has got the idea that they are allowed to hide things from the people…as if we are serfs and they are masters. It isn’t supposed to work like that. What started as operational security concerns (Grant being furious at newspapers for basically writing his battle plans into the newspapers) has morphed into the government carefully doling out information which doesn’t tell us what the government actually did. If Oswald was just a lone nut then we, the people, did need to know how this lone nut was able to get into position to fire three rounds at the most powerful man in the world. The government hid that from us. Quite diligently. Because a lot of them would have been hung out to dry whether it was conspiracy or incompetence.

Trump is still holding back on a showdown with the Judiciary. The deportations to El Salvador are called “too late, judge”; implying that if the judge had ruled prior to the planes leaving our airspace, the deportations wouldn’t have happened. Roberts rose to the defense of his judges and that made them go totally insane…now basically ruling that Trump can’t be President without their permission. It is absurd…and it isn’t actually stopping anything. And Trump is just giving them enough rope to hang themselves.

In any battle between the elected and the un-elected, the elected is going to win. Simple as: the people will always favor those who they voted for. Trump is likely just waiting for his best moment to strike…when it all piles up as idiotically (and it is; high and deep!) that he can be the reasonable one defending Constitutional norms.

It must be kept in mind that the Judiciary has no method of enforcing its rulings. In that, only the Executive can enforce. The unwritten rule since Marbury is Executive acquiescence – though Biden’s refusal to obey the Court on student loans ended that precedent (to no Leftwing complaints, of course). And on the whole the Marbury precedent has been good – healthy. But it isn’t so much any longer. This is mostly because the Courts are intervening in areas which have no Federal or Constitutional scope. It has happened before, of course. Dred Scott was an egregious example of the Court getting involved in something it shouldn’t have – at that time, the legality of slavery was up to the States but the Court decided without any Constitutional authority to decree that Missouri’s slavery laws were valid in Wisconsin. It was an absurdity. But for the most part, the Court remained reticent and only acted when it was something crucial.

We can pick a case to say this is when the Great Departure happened but I’ll settle on Roe – that horrible poison in our body politic. Abortion was largely unknown (and mostly impractical) at the time the Constitution was adopted. No provision in that document in any way relates to how medical practices are to be regulated, nothing in there defines when a human being is endowed with their rights, no clause says a person has a right to an action which requires the assistance of at least one other person. Given all this, it all fell under the 9th and 10th Amendments…it was a matter for the States or the people to decide. If you wanted to make it a Federal issue, you’d have to amend the Constitution. And, by and large, the people and the States were dealing with it – badly in my view as abortion was legalized in State after State but this is how it works and I could have no complaint about the process much as I dislike the result. Whammo: here comes the Supreme Court to invent out of whole cloth a “right to privacy” which means we can’t regulate abortion at the State level. It wasn’t just a stupid ruling – it was an evil ruling. It cut at the very heart of the American system of government. Until Hobbs, it essentially removed the American people from any say in the matter. Since then, its just been one bad, wicked decision after another and now we have the Courts completely out of control trying to insert a “but, Trump” exception to Article II. It has to stop. It will be stopped. Only question is whether Roberts will call off the dogs or if Trump will start to openly defy the Courts.

Cancel That Pardon Open Thread

Mark Noonan22 Comments

I was going to write up a bit about Home World (Book IX of the Mirrors series) being released but we’ll pause that for this:

Absolutely impossible to see where this winds up. It has never happened before – that is, an Executive saying the previous Executive’s actions are invalid. But, also, we’ve never had such a slew of last-minute pardons from an Executive. Given the number, there is no possible way that mentally deficient Biden spent sufficient time reviewing the pardon documents to arrive at a valid decision. This is why some genuine bad guys were allowed to skate; people Biden would never have let off when his mind was functioning. In addition to that, Trump is saying – and there appears to be solid evidence of this – that an autopen was used to sign the documents. Is that valid? Can at least two or three people affirm under oath that Biden was even in the room when the pardons were signed? Maybe a case can be made that an autopen is a legal way to carry out Executive actions…but I can’t see any possible way to say an Executive action can happen if the Executive isn’t even present.

I guarantee you a thrill of fear just went down a lot of backs when Trump posted that. It is completely unknown territory…and a lot of people who were sure they had skated on multiple serious federal crimes now wonder just how safe they are?

An Urban Homestead Act

Mark Noonan12 Comments

We do have to think long-term a bit. Our immediate need is to gain control of the government, de-fund the Left and set the stage where freedom and logic have a shot at winning. But the bottom line is that political success in a democratic Republic requires that the people feel like they’re getting advantage out of you being in power. This mostly translates into how are they doing economically.

Trump economic policy, carried through, will go a long way on this – we might be in for a rough year but the cessation of inflationary spending, the tax cuts and the regulatory easements will lead to rapid economic expansion. That’s good and if it comes soon enough it might even allow us to win – or at least hold our own – in the 2026 midterms. But we have to be cognizant of the fact that last November 75 million people voted for a talentless, ignorant person of zero accomplishments. A good number of those voters are just hate-filled, Democrat bigots – not reachable by us no matter what we do. But the fear is that a flip of just 1.5 million Trump voters means we lose. Think of the catastrophe we’d be stuck in right now if Harris was in office. We dodged a bullet – and we need to think of ways to ensure we dodge it going forward.

And the seeds of what we need to do are right there in the election results – Trump did better than any GOPer ever among traditionally Democrat constituencies. These people voted for hope: a hope that Trump would revive the economy and give them a shot. If we don’t deliver on that hope we’re doomed – but if we can deliver even better than expected, those voters might start to come over to us in droves, leaving the Democrats in the position of the GOP 1932-1952. Think of all the Democrats accomplished in that 20 year period we were out: total transformation of the USA. We can do that, too; if we have the power.

Lots of people will have lots of ideas on this and here is mine: an Urban Homestead Act.

All through the big cities we see swaths of totally abandoned residential and commercial land. You’ve seen the videos – just totally blighted buildings (when they’re still standing). Testament to a different America 60+ years ago when our urban cores were places of work and hope, not death and despair. I know what you’re thinking: not another urban redevelopment plan! It isn’t! Promise! Those old liberal urban plans were merely giveaways to cronies…if anything concrete was accomplished it was either useless or merely catered to upper class urban liberals (you know – building an arts center…places to display garbage liberal art and it is all staffed by well-paid liberal foot soldiers). I have something else in mind: to turn decayed neighborhoods back into thriving communities. Turning abandoned factories and stores back into thriving businesses. Here’s the nutshell of it:

The federal government does a survey in a city (let’s say min population has to be 100,000) and if they determine a certain percentage is blighted (I’d go with something like a figure equal to 25% of the blighted land in Detroit), it is seized under eminent domain and becomes federal land (not exactly what was intended with this provision but after Kelo totally reasonable, and what we’re doing is actually good). We don’t overly interfere with local zoning ordinances (except in such cases where they are just liberal NIMBY urban planning trash) – if it is zoned residential, it remains that. So, too, with commercial and industrial zoning. The government clears away the completely useless buildings, cleans up those buildings which are still usable (even if they need work). The resultant properties go into a pool and at fixed times and places, American citizens (only citizens, and never corporations) can stake a claim to the properties…just like the old Homestead Act, if you stay on it for five years and develop it (you know, build or repair the house; open a factory up in that industrial property, etc) then title is transferred to you.

First thing: this will cost. Probably a lot. Not in obtaining the property – under eminent domain the full market value has to be paid but we’re talking here about de-facto abandoned property. We’d have to draw up some rules on that but a rule of thumb would be if the city hasn’t collected property taxes on it for, say, five years before it is seized in eminent domain, then that is abandoned property – it has no legal owner. Sure, there would be lawsuits on it…we’d win them. But the real expense comes in clearing/cleaning the property. But that, my friends, is the first step in giving benefit to the people…this would open up a huge number of low skilled jobs in areas of highest economic blight. Anyone can haul away trash. We just created some jobs – sure, government funded, but still private sector (various contractors would obviously be employed here) and just in cleaning up the mess, that will start to improve the areas we’re working in.

Second thing: making sure we’re not screwing ourselves. One thing is to make sure that the corrupt city governments don’t get their greedy little fingers in here. That’s part of the reason to federalize the property…but it can’t stay federal forever and I don’t want, say, the mayor of Chicago licking his chops at how much property taxes he’s going to be able to collect in five years. So, such property after transfer of title remains federal land for twenty years – federal land, no local or State taxes on it. The provision against corporations getting the land is because I don’t want corrupt political machines in the cities setting up fake corporations to stake a claim and then in five years just selling it off at whatever price after Uncle Sam picked up the tab for cleaning the land. This act is for people, not for governments or corporations. After the title is transferred then what will happen will happen…but the connected are not taking this thing over.

Some incentives:

Aside from being property-tax free for a total of twenty five years, I would also make the labor and material costs of fixing/building on the properties tax deductible. Full ride on it – whatever you spent to get that house or factory into working order, write it off your taxes…and you can allocate those costs over a twenty year period (you don’t have to take the write off in one year…you spent, say, $100,000 on it, go ahead and spread that tax deduction over five, ten or twenty years as seems best to you.

For contractors actually doing the work (as most of it will be) profits from such work are taxed at half whatever federal rate you pay on profits. Massive incentive for contractors to get into this…and pass at least part of the savings on to the customer. So, too, with materials sold to people building on the Homestead properties – you sell lumber then the lumber you sell for this is taxed less. The key here is to kickstart the thing – to make everyone want to jump in. And, of course, the goal was two-fold from the start: to revive these blighted areas, and to provide an increased market for goods and services. Because then the final step here: all materials used in these properties must be American made. We’re not doing this so China can sell us more drywall (some care will have to be taken here – if there is some aspect of this that is genuinely not available in the USA or not available in sufficient amount then we can grant some easements on this requirement…but just think about what is needed to build any structure and you know that 90%+ of it is easily obtainable in the USA). Think of the ripple effects in the economy as more lumber, nails, drywall, ducting, glass, wiring and on and on and on have to be made in the USA to rebuild America.

Anyways, that is the basics of my idea. Sure it would actually need refinement and there would be lots of nuance based on local conditions but the basic concept is to get Americans to rebuild America using American materials for the benefit of Americans. And I’m sure other people will come up with other ideas or improvements to this one. But we need the ideas. We need to talk about them. Send them along to those in charge or who have influence. Even if its just a tiny bit…that is how things are supposed to be done in the USA. Bottom up – the people are the prime movers, the government just clears the decks. And if we do this – and a hundred other good ideas as well – we’ll leave the Left out in the cold. They can’t come up with positive, helpful ideas – because they hate the USA and Americans. They don’t want us doing well – they want us punished for our sins, real and imagined. But as long as they can talk a game about helping, their message will resonate…if, however, we show the people that we’re helping, all the talk in the world won’t change the result.